The leader of the public movement 'Ukrainian Choice', former deputy speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Viktor Medvedchuk, wrote on his blog that the United Nations and other international institutions recognize the error of the policy of blockading the south-east of Ukraine chosen by Kiev. In the May monitoring report of the special OSCE mission in Ukraine, a discrepancy of crossing procedures of the border zone of ATO to international legal norms was noted. The blockade of DPR and LPR territories contradicts the Minsk Agreements, because in paragraph 8 'A set of measures to implement the Minsk Agreement' the commitments of Kiev are clearly and unambiguously stated: "Determination of the modalities of the full restoration of social and economic relations."
However, the Ukrainian government, by ignoring international criticism and sabotaging the Minsk Agreements, continues the blockade of LPR and DPR. Even though the officials appointed by Kiev to positions of leadership in Lugansk and Donetsk regions, delving into the situation in the Donbass, understand the fallacy of such a policy. The War Party continues to increase the degree of confrontation in society: its representatives in the authorities are trying to prevent local elections being held in Donbass, depriving the inhabitants of the region of the right guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine to elect and to be elected, but at the same stating that only dialogue with the elected representatives of the region is possible.
Medvedchuk is convinced that a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbas is possible only on the basis of the agreements reached in Minsk – a ceasefire, the withdrawal of weapons and the exchange of prisoners. It is necessary to restore social and economic ties with the region, to hold local elections, to adopt a law on the special status and to build new relationships, providing reintegration of Donbass in Ukraine. It will allow peace to be restored in the region and the territorial integrity of Ukraine to be preserved.
Meanwhile, as the editor-in-chief of Russian Reporter magazine Vitaly Leibin believes, the humanitarian issue remains the key question: "Objectively speaking, we see that over the past six months there are improvements in the humanitarian situation in different directions in the DPR and LPR. In particular, the renewal of the payment of pensions, wages, activization of improvement of the management of humanitarian aid from Russia. There were some complaints in relation to the fact that the population did not always understand what tools humanitarian aid is distributed by, but all attempts to somehow validate and independently understand whether this help goes to some wrong places usually leads to the fact that all of it is quite usefully and effectivelly distributed to institutions. The only thing that is beginning to happen now is that possibly this humanitarian aid could be distributed not only to especially important organizations, to people in need, but also to specific individuals, so they could understand what they can have at any moment of time, instead of waiting until the next convoy will do what it usually does."
"There is a restoration of infrastructure in the DPR and LPR, including, surprisingly, financial. As you know, recently banks of the republics opened several ATMs. It is almost a miracle in the situation of lack of any recognition," Leibin says.
He sees an enormous contribution of voluntary and independent organizations to the humanitarian situation: Kiev comrades liked to talk about how inert the people of Donbass are. But in every town, even in the smallest, there are volunteers who quite willingly distribute aid. If any organization would want to deliver aid not under the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but through independent organizations, it also could arrange delivery, there is help through independent organizations to any place. I must say that there is equally great volunteer activity on the territory of Donbass, which is controlled by Ukraine."
"Not so long ago I was in the city of Slavyansk, and there, in the suburbs of Slavyansk, Nikolayevka, not even debris from the houses which were bombed over a year ago had been removed. Local residents, of course, are afraid to express any alternative political opinion in these conditions, but they quite eloquently point to the complete lack of attention, as well as the violations of promises made by top officials of the State about the restoration of these areas. This is also part of the Minsk process – the restoration of these areas, which miraculously could be done, and it would be in the interests of the Kiev authorities to make efforts to restore areas, at least those areas controlled by them, but it does not happen," the Chief Editor of Russian Reporter magazine says.
According to him, in many ways the DPR and LPR have a much more difficult situation than on the territories controlled by Ukraine, especially with respect to the prices of different products. "This is a direct consequence of the economic blockade and the fact that the LPR and DPR are forcedly moving to trade with Russia, which also has a customs border, which is becoming gradually easier, and turnover increases. But, in general, Russian prices are substantially higher than those that existed before the war, and so the population is experiencing a shock with which, apparently, humanitarian organizations will also need to work," Leibin believes.
